chicken English · revision 4114

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 950|origins=gem-pro *kiukīną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈtʃɪk.ɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|chiken]], chikene,^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) [[inh|ang|ċīcen|t=young of the domestic hen; young of any bird]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*kiukīną|alt=*kiukinam]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) the source also of Dutch kieken, kuiken, German Küken and Old Norse kjúklingr,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from an imitative root *keuk-, echoing the bird's sound and possibly also the root of [[cock]], with a diminutive suffix.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) By regular sound changes it should have become modern *chichen; why it did not is unknown.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The young of the domestic fowl: Old English cicen about 950, in the Lindisfarne Gospels.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By early Middle English it meant any chicken, of any age.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Words for “chicken” in Indo-European languages usually extend words for “hen”, but sometimes, as in English and Latin pullus, words for the young.^(Etymonline) It was used disparagingly of people in Middle English from 1330,^(Barnhart 1988) and of a child from before 1400.^(OED 1989) The adjectival sense “cowardly” may go back to the 14th century, with hen-herte, a chicken-hearted person, from the mid-15th century;^(Etymonline) “a coward” is from the 1610s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the adjective as modern slang from 1941.^(MW Collegiate) The verb, “to back down through cowardice”, almost always with ''out'', is American slang from 1943.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) ''Chicken pox'' is from 1727–38, in Chambers' Cyclopaedia.^(Barnhart 1988) ''To count one's chickens before they hatch'' is from the 1570s,^(Etymonline) from Aesop's fable of the milkmaid,^(Cresswell 2021) and ''chicken feed'', a paltry sum, is American slang by 1897.^(Etymonline) The game of chicken, a test of courage, is recorded by 1953.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 950 – a young fowl.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1330 – disparaging, of people.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1570s – ''count one's chickens''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – a coward.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1727 – ''chicken pox''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1897 – ''chicken feed''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1943 – verb, ''chicken out''.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1953 – the game of chicken.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The common domestic [[fowl]], or its young.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The flesh of this bird used as food.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang)'' A [[coward]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang)'' A dangerous contest in which the first to lose nerve and back out loses.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(slang)'' Afraid; cowardly.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(slang)'' To lose one's nerve and back out, usually with ''out''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chick]]

+ * [[cock]]

+ * [[chicken pox]]

+ * [[chickenhearted]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}